It is well known in the art to provide vehicles with keyless entry systems. Typically there is small, pocket sized, portable, wireless remote control device called a ‘fob’ that is electronically (e.g., RF or IR) coupled to the vehicle control system such that, activation of various buttons on the fob will cause the vehicle doors, windows, trunk, etc., to lock, unlock, open or close, and so forth. Other functions may also be included, as for example, engine start, engine stop, alarm, etc. It is also known to provide pocket-sized portable, wireless remote control devices to activate electrically operated garage doors and the like. In the past it has been most common for the user to have two fobs, one for vehicle entry and another for garage door activation. Both types of fobs work on substantially the same general principle, that is, the user presses a button on the fob thereby causing it to transmit a coded RF signal of a predetermined frequency to a receiver mounted in the vehicle or adjacent to the garage door activation motor. A receiver tuned to the RF signal emitted by the fob detects the coded information carried by the RF signal, verifies that it matches a predetermined code stored in the fob memory or hard-wired in the fob or equivalent, and carries out the intended command, e.g., open door, close door, etc. The RF signal is coded for security purposes so that the garage door or vehicle entry system will only respond to a fob that transmits the correct signal code or format. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the fob operated by transmitting and receiving RF signals, but this is not intended to be limiting and any form of wireless signally can be used. Optical and ultrasonic signaling are well known alternatives. Accordingly, as used here the term RF is intended to include these and other alternative wireless signally means.
It is also known to incorporate the garage door opening function into an automobile. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,605 to Nixon describes an arrangement where a garage door activation transmitter provided by the garage door manufacturer is mounted in the engine compartment of an auto, powered from the auto's electrical system and a remote control switch connected thereto mounted in the passenger compartment where it can be conveniently activated by the driver. It is also known to combine both the vehicle keyless entry functions and the garage door activation functions into a single pocket-sized portable fob. Such an arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,173 B1 to Desai. Desai uses a scanning receiver built into the vehicle's on-board electronic systems to detect and analyze the garage door (GD) opener's transmission frequency and code, that is, its signaling parameters. The onboard vehicle electronic system then sends these signaling parameters to the portable fob where they are memorized and thereafter used to provide the garage door (GD) activation function in the same fob as for the vehicle keyless entry function. Thus, there is taught a two-step training or learning process in which the garage door (GD) opener frequency and code are first received and analyzed by the vehicle electronic system and then parameters describing the GD activation signal (rather than the actual GD opener activation signal itself) are sent to the fob. Once that is accomplished, the combined fob can activate the garage door (GD) in the same way as the original GD opener itself. While this arrangement is useful it suffers from a number of disadvantages, as for example, it cannot be used with vehicles whose on-board electronics system lacks a frequency scanning receiver able to capture and analyze the GD remote control's transmission frequency and code (collectively the GD activate signal parameters). Further, the two-step learning process adds complexity and cost that are undesirable. Still further, it can be more difficult to provide a substantially universal fob so far as the GD function is concerned, since the capabilities of the vehicle electronic system essential for capture and learning of the GD opener signal parameters may be different for different vehicles.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a combined keyless entry and garage door (GD) fob without depending on the vehicle electronic system for GD remote control operating parameter capture and analysis. In addition, it is desirable that the GD remote control operating parameter capture and analysis function be entirely contained in the fob for portability during the capture and learning process. This portability especially facilitates capture and learning in more sophisticated GD opener systems that use rolling codes and/or that require signal exchanges with a transceiver mounted on or near the door lift motor, for example, where GD activation requires 2-way communication between the lift motor controller and the associated fob. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.